I’m issuing an Apocalypse Watch in regards to the recent activity on the surface of the sun.  While the odds are minimal of the collapse of this phenomenon causing a coronal mass ejection that has the correct trajectory to hit Earth, the risk is real.  The resulting electromagnetic pulse (EMP), could be sufficient to bring down the electrical grid.  Eventually we will be hit with a Coronal Mass Ejection big enough to do just that.  The last one happened in 1859 when there was no grid. 

Some say we are overdue for another event of similar or greater magnitude. 

When, not if, but when this life shattering event comes to pass you would be very lucky to get this amount of forwarning.  So take this casual warning for what it may truly be worth, because this is not the sort of thing you will find on the NBC Nightly News, this is the sort of thing that you learn about when you can’t turn your television on to watch the NBC Nightly News.

For most people in the developed or developing world, the grid coming down would mean an end to the world as we know it.  As such, I highly recommend monitoring this situation. 

Here is the latest update from spaceweather.com :

A dark magnetic filament more than 400,000 km long is snaking around the sun’s southeastern limb. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed it rotating into view during the early hours of Dec. 4th:

In this extreme ultraviolet image, blues and yellows trace million-degree gas in the sun’s atmosphere. Dense plasma bottled up inside the filament is about ten times cooler, so it appears dark in contrast to the hot atmosphere around it.

The arrival of the filament comes as no surprise. NASA’s STEREO-B spacecraft has been monitoring the filament for days as it approached the sun’s horizon from behind. So far the massive structure has hovered quietly above the stellar surface, showing no signs of instability. How long can the quiet last? Long filaments like this one have been known to collapse with explosive results when they hit the stellar surface below. Stay tuned!

This my friends would be a very good time to make sure your pantries are well stocked and to read up on the potential effects of EMP.  I recommend the novel One Second After by William Forstchen (despite the political taint). 

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UPDATE: Dec 7 2010 – The filament has exploded.  Click here to view a 4MB .gif file of the dramatic image.  Very cool!  But we still need to stay tuned to what’s happening on the surface of the sun.  We got lucky this time, if we were in the path of the blast this could have been lights out for months to years.

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